This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Fast-forward to February 10, 2026—Val di Fiemme, Italy. Day 2 of the Olympic Cross Country schedule is a Classic Sprint, with medals being awarded in both men’s and women’s events on the same day. That means this Classic Sprint takes place after two days of...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Everybody will be fresh on Day 1 of the Olympic Cross Country schedule; the racing is likely to be fast and furious. The 16-day Olympic schedule is more spread out than last season’s 10-day World Championship schedule. Athletes will have the benefit of more rest...
During the ancient Olympics, the Greeks practiced ékécheiria: an Olympic truce, a temporary peace during which wars would pause, combatants would lay down their arms, and athletes competed peacefully and nobly in Olympic contests. The Olympic Games would literally stop wars, the violence and aggression and acrimony of the battlefield replaced with the spirit of the Games. We’re reminded of that notable history during every modern Olympic broadcast, and we’re certain to be reminded of...
The old season just ended. Let the new season begin . . . Ten months from now, the Olympic Winter Games are scheduled to begin in Milano-Cortina, Italy. Ten months is practically enough time to build a ski team from scratch: to cure lingering illnesses, to heal nagging injuries, to initiate new training strategies, to fix any technique foibles, even to learn new secrets for waxing and ski prep. If only Norway and Sweden would...
Here on the other side of winter—snow not yet fully melted, grass not yet fully green—I’ve spent the week sleeping in. It’s been kind of awesome: lolling happily under a fluffy comforter, flipping the pillow to the cool side again and again, dozing luxuriantly, secure in the knowledge that I’m not missing a race, not late on a deadline, not overlooking details that might make a story better or more informative. These spring mornings are...
The FIS Cross Country World Cup season is long and exhausting, and the performers in the World Cup circus are always at risk of illness, injury, overtraining, fatigue. They travel in planes, they live in hotel rooms, they eat in restaurants: all the worst ways to preserve health and wellness. And the world continues to be inundated with lingering pandemic viruses that take advantage of our now-maskless society. It’s no wonder so many of them...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. The World Cup season ended a week ago in Lahti, Finland where Jessie Diggins raced to a courageous ninth place in securing (by the narrowest of margins) the Distance World Cup Crystal Globe (to go along with her Overall Crystal Globe secured a week prior)....
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. On Saturday in Lake Placid, NY, mixed relay teams competed for a unique National Championship, for rivalry-fueled bragging rights, and for the possibility of earning National Nordic Foundation (NNF) distinction and prize money for their teams. It was an international party thrown at the end...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Sprint day at the Spring National Championships at Mt. Van Hoevenberg is the day when the best and the brightest showed up. Less than a week since collecting her World Cup Distance and Overall Crystal Globes, Jessie Digins (USA) arrived to lay down the day’s...
This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you would like to see more articles like this one, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription. Lake Placid’s opening event of the SWIX Supertour Finals—the 10 k Freestyle Individual Start—was dominated by skiers with racing experience from this season’s FIS World Cup. The very biggest stars were yet to toe the starting line, but contenders like Lucinda Anderson (Birkie/US Biathlon)...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Therese Johaug (NOR) was going to retire two weeks ago, but things didn’t work out as planned. She had intended to go out after the 50 k at World Championships—to be honest, Johaug...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. A few weeks ago, Norwegian commentator (and Ski Hall of Famer) Petter Northug criticized his countrymen for failing to attack Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) more aggressively in a mass start distance race. Northug...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Just how do these athletes keep doing this? There have been 32 World Cup races so far this winter—plus an exhausting week of World Championships—and we ski fans get in the habit of...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) had business to attend to, and a Crystal Globe to claim. He couldn’t afford to waste time worrying about races to come. He had today’s race to deal with...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Back in 2021-2022, Slovenia’s Annamarija Lampic won the Sprint World Cup while having stepped onto a World Cup Sprint podium only three times that season (2 x third, 1 x second). No victories...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. As the FIS World Cup makes a popular stop in Talinn, Estonia, a bit of a geography review might be in order . . . Talinn is the capital of Estonia, situated directly south...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Cross country skiing is a winter sport, but it’s the spring season in which we see it in all it’s glory: sunny skies, blue horizons, fields of purest white. A venue like Holmenkollen offers...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Holmenkollen has traditionally been the site of the season’s most significant 50 k race, and many in Norway are fairly grumpy to have it removed from the schedule. For the racers in today’s substitute...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. Holmenkollen is the home of Norwegian cross country skiing. It’s their Yankee Stadium, their Churchill Downs, their Wimbledon Centre Court, their Indianapolis Speedway. It’s the place where the Kingdom of Norway would usually crown...
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com. In the weeks closely following the conclusion of each year’s Tour de France (the world’s preeminent bicycle stage race), the winners and contenders undertake a tour of “criterium” events, races staged in those European...